Ken Gruebel: Novel portrays early farming life with a ring of truth

Okay, this is a test. Close your eyes and think back to the year 1787. You are a farmer in North Carolina. The Revolutionary War has ended. We are a free and independent people now without a care in the world. Open your eyes. In real life the war is receding in the hearts and minds of the people. The problems now weigh more h...

Okay, this is a test. Close your eyes and think back to the year 1787. You are a farmer in North Carolina. The Revolutionary War has ended. We are a free and independent people now without a care in the world. Open your eyes. In real life the war is receding in the hearts and minds of the people. The problems now weigh more heavily on survival. Freedom has been gained; survival is still a question mark for farmers in this region.

As modern and up to date the characters who people this fine novel may think they are, there are still the specters of failed crops, unsettled local governments and the health of individuals without doctors and hospitals present.

The story is presented as a journal written by a youngish farmer. He makes no pretense at literary skills and sometimes his syntax and word selections border on the fanciful. But the events ring true. The death of a child in infancy with a disease that would be readily treatable today. Sickness that debilitates and slows farm work to a crawl because of a lack of medicine. And the ever present fear that slaves may revolt against their masters.

However, all is not gloom and doom. The former colonies are relishing their new found freedom from the shackles of the English. Democracy is emerging although somewhat timidly, and elections are determining who the nation’s leaders will be rather than the appointees of a far off monarch.

Crops with either their abundance or lack of production are the emotional roller coasters that move the locals. There is of course hunting to fill in the bleak spots when crops fail to provide enough food. Over riding all of this are worries about debt payments. It seems that no one is completely free of debt and most of the debts are held by a few wealthy individuals.

Horse racing is popular and Sterling Shearin owns a colt that is passing nimble and with training has become a factor in the local races.

Overbearing local officials, now free of any restraint but that of a distant and still largely formless national government, tend to enforce whatever version of the law they think is suitable and often harass blameless citizens for personal reasons.

It was not an easy time for our forefathers. Hard and sometimes back breaking work was required to make a farm pay enough to survive the winters and support a growing family. And there was always the problem of slavery. Not only were the slaves pressed into doing more work than anyone else but they were frequently rented out by their owners as day labor when farm work was slow. There was never rest or reward.

Through all of this one man sits and writes his own account. I know ‘tis fiction but the entire novel has the ring of truth.

Page 2 of 2 - Through it all, the struggle of a new nation, the back breaking labor of farming with crude tools, the few bright moments of love and dances and the slow changing of fashion as knee britches become long trousers and tri-corner hats become rounded brims, Shearin follows it all.